Homeless-center idea faces hurdles in east Orange

Samaritan Resource Center effort hindered by neighbors’ objections

April 9, 2010|By Victor Manuel Ramos, Orlando Sentinel

The Friday shooting of a homeless man by a deputy sheriff in east Orange County is an example of why more outreach is needed for the area's significant homeless population, say advocates trying to establish a services center.

Hundreds of men and women live in the woods and behind strip malls on the east side of the county, but a project to help them has stalled because of community opposition. Though some fear having a homeless hub near neighborhoods, a group of churches is planning to open at least a temporary office for an outreach program this year.

Early Friday, an unidentified Orange County deputy shot and killed Bernard King, 47, a homeless man who reportedly punched the deputy and threatened him with a knife. The case is under investigation.

Advocates think the homeless population could benefit from access to social workers and counselors who could direct them to programs and guide them to better life choices.

"This is the kind of situation that shows that they are there, and in some cases they are troubled people and sometimes quite ill, and in helping them, we help the community," said Donna Wyche, manager of Orange County's Mental Health and Homeless Issues Division. "You can't pave over all of east Orange County and hope that people won't camp anywhere, because they will just move to the next site."

Proponents of the homeless center are working to set up a nonprofit organization to manage the project. The church-led group has baptized the initiative as the Samaritan Resource Center, hoping the idea will catch on with neighbors who might fear an unsightly shelter.

Instead, the center would serve as a daytime facility for people struggling with poverty, said the Rev. Jeff Linman, pastor of Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church. Eleven area churches support the effort, including Lutheran, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and nondenominational congregations.

"The very idea of this center is rooted on the biblical question asked by Jesus, ‘Who is my neighbor?' We want this to be a place to meet the needs of whoever our neighbors in need are, whether they live in the woods or they are struggling to stay in their home or apartment," Linman said.

The idea was born after a 2007 study of homelessness found that more than 500 indigent people — many with mental-health problems and addictions — roam the streets of east Orange. The study was requested by Commissioner Mildred Fernández after she noticed panhandlers in her district, which stretches east along East Colonial Drive from downtown Orlando to Alafaya Trail.

Last year, the project got a boost when the county received an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to buy and refurbish property for a "drop-in" center where people without a roof over their heads could get a meal, shower, change clothes and at the same time get counseling, job-search assistance and some medical care.

The project has political support. But the idea has not taken off because some don't want the service center in their backyards.

Some Hispanic activists protested against locating it in their neighborhoods. The latest site the county found in Union Park ran into objections because it was too close to Downey Memorial Community Church's elementary school.

The Rev. Clarence Charles Dees Jr., Downey Memorial's pastor, said that even without a center, his church has had to struggle with homeless people breaking into the property and using the church's swimming pool, urinating on the premises and going into the elementary school to beg for money. There have been several stabbing incidents in fights among homeless people nearby. The school is regularly on lockdown as a result.

"It's not that we don't feel for them and don't want to help them, but we don't need them right next door to our kids, because we already have enough of that issue with the park across the street," Dees said. "Safety is a big concern."

The search for the center's home has narrowed to properties along East Colonial Drive, near bus routes between Econlockhatchee and Alafaya trails.

It's not easy, county officials say, to find a site that's affordable, convenient for the needy and acceptable to surrounding communities. The search could take until sometime next year, they said.

"We are still looking, and we are still pursuing properties," said Mitchell Glasser, manager of the Orange County Housing and Community Development Division. "But this is a project that will take some time."